


To Bow so Low

by yersifanel



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Branding, M/M, Paranoia, Rape/Non-con Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-16
Updated: 2013-07-16
Packaged: 2017-12-20 08:04:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/884929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yersifanel/pseuds/yersifanel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>No one wants to be right when it means acknowledging your own incarceration. Facing the acceptance that you have become a slave and even thinking you have the strength to fight, you cannot escape.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Bow so Low

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by [this prompt](http://strek-id-kink.livejournal.com/2836.html?thread=1234452#t1234452) at strek-id-kink. 
> 
> **Not beta read**... And English is not my mother language, so you will probably see some mistakes and typos. I apologize in advance for any errors you may find.
> 
> Yes, I was listing "Rains of Castamere" when I named this story. I regret nothing!
> 
> **Edit:** Not beta-ed by [AduialOakenshield](http://archiveofourown.org/users/AduialOakenshield/pseuds/AduialOakenshield)! Thank you!!

Having the power to control another is, for some, like a particular dangerous drug. The first taste is strange, somehow unpleasant, but if one dares to try more, it can morph into something far more sinister. It becomes an addiction and the need to have more and more.Suddenly its sinister strength overcomes reason and will twists into obsession. 

Khan was familiar with this situation. He knew this particular drug was not only dangerous, but far more destructive than most. This particular obsession will never have an even ending; someone is always going to get hurt, and mostly others will be hurt by the addict. 

Still, what frustrated him most was his own naivety. He didn't see it coming... He should have expected it, at least suspected it. Marcus was vile and cruel, how could he not predict this? 

Denial, of course... No one wants to be right when it means acknowledging your own incarceration. Facing the acceptance that you have become a slave and even thinking you have the strength to fight, you cannot escape. 

Khan saw the signs; he just didn't acknowledge them for what they were until it was too late.

It started as subtle at best, but it didn't last. It became strange glances and drifting eyes not caring to hide where they were looking. Khan continued his work, paying no attention to the lustful glance all over him, pretending it was not there for his own sanity. It didn't work, things only escalated from there. Soon he was enduring inappropriate touches, wandering hands running on his sides and resting on the small of his back with far too much confidence, as it was not invading his personal space.

The awkward touches soon became full on invading ones. The first time Marcus ran his hands on Khan's inner thighs and fondled him, he gasped and pushed the Admiral away, sending the chair he had been sitting on to the floor and making Marcus trip and fall over the floor. Such act of rebellion was his mistake and he paid it dearly. 

The Admiral made him watch as he gave the order and then the live feed. The support system of one of the cryotubes was destroyed, making it malfunction and killing the woman inside it.

He knew that woman; he knows every single one of those inside the tubes and he couldn't let Marcus hurt them.

"Are you ready to behave?" 

The question made him sick, because the implication of what 'behaving' meant was degrading and humiliating. But the threat was there and he was the only thing standing between it and his crew.

"Yes."

Such simple word, it felt heavier than it should and it carried far more than Khan could possibly predict. Yet he couldn't take it back, not when another life of his crew was in peril.

Marcus was direct and specific. Establishing the power he had over Khan with accorded demonstration. He took Khan to his quarters and sat on a chair while Khan remained on his feet in the middle of the room.

"Strip."

He forced his hands to stay still as he shed his clothes, carelessly tossing them aside and standing high and as confident as he could muster for a man in his situation, a man with an advantage and yet being the one at loss. 

Marcus smirked, "Get on the bed, on your hands and knees."

He didn't want to, but he refused Marcus once, a touch, as intimate as it had been, but it was just a touch and it cost far too much.

So he did as he was told and the humiliation consumed him. Marcus left him there several minutes, just watching, building dreadful anticipation. Khan did not close his eyes when Marcus climbed on the bed behind him, nor when he ran his hands across his sides and abdomen. He bit down a curse when the Admiral grabbed his member only to let it go with a chuckle and spread his cheeks. He bit his tongue when those disgusting fingers starting touching and probing his entrance.

"Lower," Marcus said."On your elbows."

Khan bit down a snarl and did so, his eyes fixed in a random point on the headboard, until his head was forced down as well. Marcus' fingers were inside him now and he wanted more than anything to break them.

When Marcus finally forced himself inside him, he closed his eyes and concentrated in the task of breathing. He wanted to block the sound of the man panting over him, to erase the sensation of invasion inside him and to get rid of the feeling of disgust and loathing to his own self for allowing this to happen.

He gripped the sheets and hissed when Marcus roughly tugged on his hair to force his head back and bit down his neck, until he was bleeding. He saw fat drops of crimson fall into the sheets and stain everything and then he was filled with the seed of another and he cursed himself inwardly.

Marcus pushed him aside when he was done. He looked satisfied, far too satisfied. 

"There's the bathroom, get clean and report to duty tomorrow."

Khan frowned, "There is no scheduled for tomorrow."

"Now there is."

With nothing more to say, Khan stood and locked himself in the bathroom, letting the shower run for a minute before getting in. The bite on his neck, grotesque and made with such force to hurt him, was starting to heal, but it didn't change the fact that it had been done. He took a deep breath, holding the air as he closed his eyes, then exhaled audibly. Holding his head in his hands, he slowly lowered himself to the shower's wall. His hands were trembling and his eyelashes were crumbled together with unshed tears. The impact of what just had happened hit him with full force and he couldn't even scream in rage about it. 

There was not real value in forcing another person into sexual intercourse against their will. There was no real reason, no real profit, no revenue... and yet, Marcus did gain something. 

Khan was sure, now more than ever, that he was a prisoner in a war were he had no real force to win. His rebellion would be the signature to his family's downfall and he couldn't bring himself to do that. He couldn't be selfish and let that happen, he tried and found that he couldn't. 

It was an irony that, for a man designed to be superior in every single aspect, there was one they couldn't change. He was an Augment, but he was still human and his greatest weakness lay in his heart.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

He refused to submit and another member of his crew was taken from him. Less than half an hour after that, he was lower than low.

He was going to kill them, all of them, every single one of them. If he could do so with a look, all of them would be dead already, but he couldn't and the only thing he could do was create a twisted fantasy of revenge and retribution. 

With his hands behind his back, secured by the magnetic manacles and bent over a cold desk, his glare meant nothing for the man taking him roughly from behind, nor was it important for those watching.

And Marcus was there, smirking. 

No one said a word; the only sound was the heavy breathing of those taking their pleasure of him without his consent and the echo of his own humiliation.

Khan closed his eyes, he was tired and hurting, his wrist were raw and his insides could not heal as fast when they kept on forcing themselves on him. 

He was going to kill them all… in retribution of the humiliation, the pain, the violation... everything… that was a promise.

Marcus traced the tears tracks on his face with a satisfied smile and even with the burning promise of revenge in his mind Khan had no strength to oppose him. He closed his eyes when Marcus' thumb brushed his eyelashes and wished for the strength to keep fighting. 

He had a promise made and a flame lived inside him to see it done, yet Khan felt defeated. By the time it was done and he was allowed to get descent, he felt hollow. 

He thought they had made their point, he should have known they would want to remark it...

He stopped counting, it didn't matter anymore. This... barbaric display of power over another didn't matter... Khan was better than this... it didn't matter. 

He kept repeating this to himself at night, especially those nights were Marcus was to find his way into his bed and unknowingly try to prove him otherwise.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Thomas Harewood was not one of those who had forced themselves on him, but he was just as guilty, for he had known and did nothing. Still, he saved his daughter but spared him no other kindness. 

When Section 31 burned to the ground, he was expecting to feel something greater. He did feel satisfaction, but something was missing, he couldn't place his finger on what. 

He had made sure those in the explosion where the ones he wanted dead and that the casualties of collateral damage stayed at minimum. There was no reason for others to be dragged into the retribution deserved for those who committed such acts against him. No, those who deserved to burn were burning, not all of them, but he would make sure to see them all dead. 

His revenge was in course, but nothing could give him back what he lost. His crew, his integrity and his sanity... those were lost and scattered in the wind. 

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Shooting Marcus was not what he wanted; he wanted something far more painful for the man. Maybe his own desire for a far bloodier revenge was what ultimately distracted him and was to blame for his failure. 

Marcus was alive and he was on the run, without his revenge. 

He was starting to feel that he would never get another chance when the message reached him. 72 torpedoes... ah, he wished there had been 74, but this… this was the hope he desperately needed. 

When he surrendered to James T. Kirk, Captain of the USS Enterprise, he didn't expect for the man to turn and punch him. Khan's shattered nerves betrayed him and he took two steps back. He saw the rage in the captain’s eyes. Khan took someone from him and that was a shame, because he was sure that someone probably was not even a name in Khan's list, but collateral damage. 

He let himself be hit and when Jim stopped, he did not say a word. Jim frowned, looking into his eyes with less ire and more of something else. He ordered him to be cuffed and Khan stiffed, knowing it was standard procedure and yet feeling uneasy about it. He allowed it anyhow, ignoring his pounding heart and the voice in his head calling him degrading names. 

Once on the Enterprise, walking to the brig was supposed to be an uneventful thing. It was just a walk to a cell he had allowed himself to be put in, nothing more.

Someone touched his lower back and another hand ran over his side and he didn't even notice he was moving until he had tossed the man across the aisle and was backing away to press himself against the wall, like a goddamn cornered animal. 

He blinked several times, trying to make sense of what had just happened and ignoring the moisture in his eyes. Another guard was closer and this one went to grab him by the hair. He was shouting now as he tossed the man against the other wall, once again pressing himself against the opposite side when done. 

"Don't touch me," he was hissing and his vision was a bit blurry now. A man in blue was walking towards him and Khan whipped his head so fast he hurt his neck, "Do. Not. Touch. Me."

"You're hyperventilating," a doctor, this man was a doctor, "And you heart rate is a mess." He showed him a hypospray and Khan eyed him suspiciously. "Listen, you can keep your goddamn arrhythmia or you can calm down and let me do my job."

He didn't notice the two men behind him until it was too late. One went for his hair, the other for his torso and Khan was not in the Enterprise's hall anymore, but the cold lab with far too many lustful eyes and Marcus' accursed smirk. He was on the floor and he was screaming for them to just stop and leave him alone and contrary of what he knew happened in that room, he was left alone this time.

Khan blinked several times, he was still on the floor, on his back and the doctor was looking at him oddly. The hypospray connected with his neck a second later and his head felt light but that was fine, he didn't want to stay awake anymore.

He welcomed the artificial sleep, hoping it would be a dreamless one.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

"Bones, can you explain to me what the hell just happened?" 

Jim was at loss. The man surrendered, he was not going to fight them, until he was fighting, but he was not running, he just... didn't want to be touched, from the looks of things. 

"That, Captain oh Captain, was a highly unstable person having a panic attack." Leonard was running one scan after the other. John Harrison was anything but ordinary and he wanted to know why. He was finding other things as well and his conclusions were making him a little uneasy.

"He surrendered and then he was fighting, it doesn't make sense!"

"Actually..." Spock intervened, PADD in hand and a mask of concentration on his face, "From what I could see in the security footage, the trigger of his actions was a particular touch."

"I punched him in the face, several times, and he didn't go nuts on me," Jim hissed, "He could be playing us!"

"With those scans?" Leonard pointed to the records being display on the wall he got from his tricorder. "I don't think so."

"Captain, if I may." Spock called, "You engaged in a one-sided fight. From what I can conclude, what triggered Harrison's reaction was being touched on the lower back, the sides and having someone with a hold on his hair."

Jim stared at Spock and then exchanged a look with Leonard, "No."

"I didn't say anything."

"So he doesn't like being touched, we know that now. Let's... let's just be careful," He sighed, "We need to move him to the brig."

"He's going to be down for another hour at least," Leonard pointed out, "I need to run another scan."

"Why?"

"This one is telling me he had had the bones of his wrists broken and mended several times, an total of 8, and that is not possible," He mumbled. "His blood cells regenerate way too fast, maybe it is possible but... goddamn it, just let me work!"

Jim looked over Harrison pretended not to notice the dry tear tracks, just like everyone else was doing, and he felt really bad for doing so. 

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Jim stared at the prisoner with far more doubts that he had half an hour ago, this was making less and less sense by the second. He was in a constantly moving around, thinking and reaching no conclusion. They were still stuck in enemy territory, he had bigger problems to worry about and yet, here he was, dealing with those problems from Medbay instead of the bridge. 

Wonderful. 

Leonard on the other hand was deep in concentration, he was muttering to himself about broken bones that had to be dust by now when Dr. Carol Wallace entered the Medbay. The guards posted across the room, all of them with their weapons ready for standing at a safe distance from the still unconscious Harrison, looked at her with questioning eyes. 

"You shouldn't be here ma'am," one of the said, making Leonard's attention come back to the present, "Guy's dangerous."

"I just..." Carol was holding something in her hands and she looked deeply uncomfortable. Leonard was about to tell her to please leave when Harrison woke up. 

"Where...?"

He blinked and sat up, looking around in confusion. Leonard was at his side a moment later, hypospray at the ready, he was sure they would need it. 

"So, how you feeling?"

"Better..." his hands were still cuffed, but he didn't go immediately nuts, so Leonard counted that as a victory and the answer was coherent enough, if not a total lie. 

“Well then, just lay there for a while and— what?"

Harrison suddenly went very pale, even more than he already was and his whole body was tense. Leonard followed his line of vision, confirming he was staring at Carol.

She bit her lip, took a step then stopped, clutching whatever she had on her hands. "You... I... I need to know... my father... there were pictures and... this."

Carol showed him what she was holding; it looked like a Starfleet seal made in metal, approximately the size of her palm. She pressed something on the side and suddenly the inner seal got so hot it was blazing red.

"Get that away from me," Harrison hissed, moving backwards until he almost fell from the biobed if not for Leonard's support.

"I'm sorry, I have to know!" she turned the seal off but didn't back off, not even when Jim hissed the order to stand down.

"You father had the photographs and I have this," he jumped from the biobed and all the guards were pointing their guns at him. He ignore them in favor to turn around and awkwardly lift his shirt, showing his lower back where a brand the shape and size of the seal Carol was holding could be seen. He stared at his cuffed hands and didn't turn back, "What else do you want from me?"

"What's in the torpedoes," Carol asked, "The specs..."

"Open one up," he simply said.

"And, there was this classified file... the ship—" Jim was moving to stand between her and Harrison

"23.17.46.11. Coordinates not far from Earth. There is your answer, now be gone, you may not share the sin of your father but I dislike you. Do not test my patience."

Carol was trembling now and there were tears in her eyes, "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry! So sorry..."

Harrison ignored her and Leonard finally stepped in front of him, blocking her from his line of vision, "I need you to stay asleep longer." 

He pointed to the monitor, were his heart rate was once again too high, just as his blood pressure. Harrison sighed and got in the biobed again, allowing himself to be sedated once more. 

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Jim contacted Scotty and the engineer went to the location given by Harrison. They opened a torpedo and found a frozen man inside. Spock questioned Carol and got a story that Jim wished was a lie. 

"Are you sure?" Jim asked again, "She lied about her identity, she could be lying about this too."

"She had solid evidence," Spock voiced evenly, "Photographs."

"...Photos... the ones she mentioned—"

"They are... compromising in nature," Spock lowered his voice a bit. "Harrison did not seem willing in them."

"You actually saw them."

"It is evidence." Spock closed his eyes, "Though I would have preferred not to."

Jim's hands went to his face and he grunted, turning around and kicking the chair, frustration pouring out of his body in waves.

This was a mess, a goddamn fucking mess. 

And now, he couldn't hate Harrison, not after this. 

Goddamn it!

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Next time he woke up, his hands were secure to the biobed and the doctor was there to place a hand over his chest and told him to take it easy.

"You were thrashing in your sleep. I had to get your hands out of the cuffs because you were going to break your wrists. It didn't do much good though," Leonard side glanced to Harrison's wrist, raw and bloody, and tapped something in the biobed to release Harrison's left hand to clean the wound.

He let him, though Leonard could almost feel his distrust. Jim joined them shortly after that along Spock, both looking somber. Khan slowly sat up, looking at the Enterprise's Captain and First Officer in expectation.

"John Harrison didn't exist until a year ago," Jim was controlling his voice; Leonard could tell he was trying to not raise it. He had been witness of what the rogue agent could do, both consciously and by pure instinct and this was not the place for that.

"John Harrison was a fiction, a smoke screen created by your Admiral Marcus—" He spat the name with such hate it almost made Leonard wince, almost, "—To conceal my true identity... My name is Khan."

Jim nodded, "Scans says you're nearly 300 years old," he said far more casually than he felt, "And I can gather you're not a regular human."

Khan tilted his head to a side, his eyes narrowed, "I am a genetically engineered human, designed to be superior in order to fight and win the wars our creators could not." Khan was looking at a far point behind Jim's head, his voiced sounded distant and a little bit lost in whatever memory he was recalling.

"By doing as we were created for, we were condemned as criminals once we were no longer useful, for we have served out propose... forced into exile was perhaps a kinder fate than execution... for centuries we slept, hoping when we awoke things would be different." Suddenly there was ire in his voice again but his eyes were seeing nothing still. "But as a result of the destruction of Vulcan your Starfleet begun to aggressively search distant quadrants of space. My ship was found adrift.... I alone was revived."

McCoy finished with Khan's left hand and released the right to continue. The man was not even acknowledging him anymore nor doing any effort to move away from him, it was making him a little nervous to be honest.

"Why would Marcus... what did he want from you?"

"Those torpedoes are of my design, Captain... and the ship that is sure to chase you is of my design as well... I have the knowledge of war and how to fight them, the savagery obtained from living in a world ruled by chaos and Marcus wanted to exploit that..."

"That's... that's not... we are not a military Starfleet!"

"Tell that to your Admiral," Khan's cold eyes shifted full on looking at Jim, "It was not my decision, my crew was held hostage, used by Marcus—" again, there was that raw hatred that send shivers down McCoy's spine "—to control me."

"I watched you murder innocent people—!"

"Define innocent," Khan hissed, fire in his eyes evident for a moment, before the cool seeped back into them. "I had every reason to suspect that Marcus had killed every single one of the people I hold most dear... I watched him murder some of them before... I had nothing left but to respond in kind."

Khan closed his eyes, looking suddenly very tired, "My crew is not dead... yet they are not safe... they are my family... is there anything you wouldn't do for you family, Kirk?"

The Captain didn’t answer him, but the honesty in his expression was good enough of an answer for Khan.

"You have other reasons to your actions than Admiral Marcus' threat to your crew," Spock stated, "Personal ones."

"Commander, I consider the safety of my Family to be a very personal reason," Khan narrowed his eyes and looked at Spock, daring him to stop talking between the lines with a single glance.

"You have a brand on your lower back," Khan visibly tensed. "Dr. Carol Marcus brought the instrument it was used to inflict it with her." 

Spock, who until now had his hands behind his back, showed him the seal. Khan looked between the seal and the Vulcan, digging his nails into his palms. Leonard shot Jim a warning glare, but their Captain was the next to talk.

"Marcus used you to build weapons alright," Jim's voice was detached and controlled, but for anyone who knew him, it sounded far too cynical. "And for... other things as well."

Khan was on his feet in a second, although his right wrist was still in McCoy's hands. The Doctor cursed under his breath, knowing there was no way he could hold Khan back if he got violent.

"Marcus thought me a lesson," Khan's cold voice rumbled through the room, "The world has not changed, on the surface it might look different but its core is as rotten as always."

Jim frowned and Spock though collected and apparently calm, was also looking a bit disturbed as well.

"Captain, there's a ship approaching!"

Jim blinked away the moment, he had a shot and a crew to protect, "On my way."

Khan watched him go and turned to face the doctor still holding his wrist. Leonard was looking at him in the eye with a serious expression on his face. 

"Sit down," McCoy almost growled, "I will run another test."

"I am clean, doctor—"

"I will decide that, sit your ass down."

Khan, for some reason, didn't feel particularly offended. Maybe he was too tired to care.

He didn't want their pity, but they were not showing them such sentiment, so he endured them without voicing discontent. Still, when the transmission of the Captain talking to Marcus was broadcasted, Khan couldn't help but wonder when he became a bargain chip... a chip that James T. Kirk did not used, to his everlasting surprise.

But it didn't matter, because Marcus was only taunting the Enterprise's Captain. 

Khan felt strange and then there was yellow light surrendering him. He looked up, the scenery was shifting, he was being warped to another ship and he was pretty sure which one. 

So much for escaping. 

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

A soon as he was fully aboard the USS Vengeance a stun ray hit him, sending him to the floor. It was not the highest setting of the weapon; it brought him down, but didn't knock him out. Marcus looked down at him unimpressed, almost bored.

"You're becoming a liability Harrison, I don't appreciate it." 

Khan glared at him as defiantly as he could by his crumbled position on the floor. He looked around; he was in the brig of the ship. Marcus stepped aside and the barrier was lifted, leaving him alone inside the cell.

"You will answer for your little number, later... now I have to get rid of some unexpected issues."

Marcus left and with the echo of his steps, Khan could only think of the Enterprise and her crew... his own was well, for they were aboard the Enterprise.

Khan felt cold. He was losing all over again, unable to stop the free fall.

He punched the barrier, trying to break it and failing in doing so. This was stronger, he designed it himself and now it was being used against him, as everything had everything since he woke up in this century.

Khan could hear the echo of a battle that stopped abruptly, but he knew it was not over. Uncertainty was the only thing now in his mind and the silence around him was not making things any better.

"Hey!" An urgent whisper and a man he had never seen before was there, at the other side of the barrier. "You were on the Enterprise, weren't you lad? John Harrison? Khan? Whatever your name is."

"Khan," He looked at the man with the heavy Scottish accent, this man was not part of Marcus' crew.

"Aright, Captain Kirk was hopin' I would find ya..." The barrier was gone after the man pressed a few buttons, "Name's Montgomery Scott, by the way."

"Your Captain requested you to assist me?"

"I was already on the ship, tryin' to stop them from blowing up the Enterprise... Honestly, I don't want to be here and for the looks you don't want to either," Scotty handed him a phaser. "You know the way to the bridge?"

"I do," Khan took the phaser, noting it was set to stun, "I designed this ship."

"Well, I'm impressed," Scotty grinned at him. "If we were not running for our lives, I would love to chat with you about it."

"Perhaps another time..." Khan wasn't lying, these people, Kirk and his crew, they were so different from those he had met he found himself curious. He looked at his bandaged wrist and held the phaser a bit tighter, setting a goal in his mind.

His crew was in danger and so was the Enterprise's, he had to do something about it.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Taking down the crew of the USS Vengeance was easy; taking down Marcus was supposed to be easy as well. If that was the case, why were Khan's hands trembling?

"War is coming and who is going to lead us?!" He didn't care, that was not important right now, even less so because that war was being provoked. The threat exists but taunting it was just stupid. He stood tall and Marcus did not take it well. "Step aside."

He blinked and a second later he wasn't on the bridge, he was in the room he came to hate with the man that made him disgust himself. No! He shook his head, he wanted to kill this man so badly, and he couldn't understand why he was just standing there.

"You served you propose Harrison," the voice was dripping poison, the words corrosive like acid. "You playing your part well...Soldier, Engineer... Whore..." He flinched, "You have done everything you were created for, now step aside and know your place!"

White noise filled his head and his own voice was shouting at him to just stop listening.

His place...

Rage burned inside him. He was no one's toy. No ones.

Khan tossed the phaser aside and punched Marcus in the face, easily breaking his nose. He delivered another set of punches, beating the man near the point of dead and held his skull between his hands, the burning flame of revenge fueling his attacks.

"Stop! Khan!" He blinked and Jim was there in front of him, his hands on his own. "He doesn't deserve a quick death!"

Not the words he expected to hear from the Captain from the Enterprise, but certainly the ones he needed. Khan let go of Marcus, watching the injured man stumble onto the floor. Jim didn't let go of his hands, he actually pulled him a bit closer. 

He felt dizzy. His crew was safe, Marcus was stopped, it was over, it was all over.

Khan sighed, his knees buckling and Jim helped him to sit on the floor. Some more members of the Enterprise's crew were beamed aboard by Scotty in order to secure the ship while The Federation answered their distress call.

"You look like shit," Khan blinked slowly and turned his gaze towards Kirk, raising an eyebrow, "Well, you do."

"I can imagine."

"He... he didn't— He didn't have time—"

"No," Khan deadpanned, "He didn't."

"Good."

The heavy silence hung between them but it was not as uncomfortable as he expected it to be. 

He was going to face a trial, he was sure, but right now he didn't care. He was too tired to care. He closed his eyes and didn’t even register when he lost conscious. 

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

His new prison looked more like a hospital and his jailers were doctors. It took the presence of Doctor Leonard McCoy to make him stop thinking everyone in the building was out to get him and he was not in a prison. Not really.

Rehabilitation, they said. 

He was far too unstable, he was a danger to himself and others as well, but he wasn't hopeless.

Khan had to chuckle at that, so he was not completely broken after all. 

He had his own doubts, especially at night, when a phantom voice would take manifest as result of his shattered sanity with no other joy than to torment him.

Still, this was probably better than any other alternative they could give him. 

He couldn't face his crew, he didn't even know if they would be allowed to wake up. But after everything, he couldn't face them. Not like his, not right now.

"You're thinking too loud again," McCoy pointed out as he ran that tricorder around him again,  
"Stop it."

"Easier said than done, doctor."

"I'm sure you can manage," Leonard rolled his eyes and handed him a glass of water. "Drink it, you're worse than Jim in taking care of yourself, honestly!"

A small smile formed on his lips as he took the glass and drank the water. Yes, it would cost him, but he was going to work out this problem.

It was him and his demons now, but at least no one was adding new ones. 

-*-*-*-*-*-*-

A year later he was better, really better and he was glad to be able to admit such thing. 

His crew was still asleep, but they were safe, truly safe this time, and he was among people he could trust.

Trust... the thought itself felt alien. He thought the world was rotten but it turns out it wasn't that rotten after all. There was still hopes of a healthy core. He could live with that.

Serving on the Enterprise as the next step of his 'rehabilitation' wasn't so bad, there were certainly worse fates. He would be fine, there were familiar faces amongst the Enterprise's Crew and, dare he say it, people he could truly rely on, for their have gained his belief and trust.

He was better now and maybe soon enough he would even be fine. 

\- END


End file.
